


I Will Learn to Love the Skies I'm Under

by Kayleegee



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F, Future Fic, Gen, Kidfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 14:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10833486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayleegee/pseuds/Kayleegee
Summary: Oliver shuts his eyes. He is so tired of letting them down.Set a few years beforeThe Words You Said (left a clouded mind and a heavy heart)





	I Will Learn to Love the Skies I'm Under

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Mumford and Son's Hopeless Wanderer

The room he lays in is dark, his bare back pressed against the damp concrete floor. He’s so cold, colder than he’s been in quite a while, since the last night he spent on Lian Yu. 

There is a weak beam of light in the small cell window. Oliver follows its path to his left, where he can see Felicity’s glasses, just out of reach on the floor, taunting Oliver. Adrian could have easily taken much more than her glasses. She isn’t safe. Oliver can’t keep her safe. 

Oliver shuts his eyes. He is so tired of letting her down.

Oliver restlessly tries his restraints again, his wrists pulling away from each other as long as the chain allows. It sends pain shooting down his wrists and arms. If he could just move from this spot. 

A loud creak echoes through the cell as the door opens but Oliver keeps his eyes shut. He doesn’t want to face Adrian right now. He doesn’t know if he has any strength left in him. 

The footsteps are light, and Oliver can hear them pad towards him until there’s a loud crunch, the sound of glass ground into the floor. 

Oliver’s eyes fly open, looking at the foot that has stepped on Felicity’s glasses. The foot is small, a child’s foot in a black Converse sneaker. Oliver slowly lifts his eyes to the jeaned legs, the small Flash action figure clutched in the child’s hands…

“William’s here,” Adrian’s voice echoes in the cell, his hands on William’s shoulders. 

Oliver wants to get up, to protect his son, but he can’t. The restraints won’t let him. He pulls and pulls against them, but he can’t move. “Don’t touch him,” Oliver growls at Adrian, but all Adrian does is smile, and squeeze’s William’s shoulders tightly.

“There isn’t anything you can do, is there?” Adrian taunts. 

“Please Adrian,” Oliver pleads and pleads. It only makes Adrian’s smile grow wider. 

“But if we’re being honest, he’s probably better off without you, isn’t he?” Adrian asks. “Everyone’s better off without you.” 

Oliver still pulls and pulls at the restraints, and Adrian chuckles. “Come ‘on buddy,” he says to William, who looks at Oliver like the stranger he is. “Let’s go find a better place.” Adrian leads William out of the cell, looking over his shoulder one last time at Oliver, who lays on the ground, still pleading with Adrian to let William go. Oliver watches as William pulls the cell door closed. 

He wakes with William’s name on his lips, his breath coming fast, and tears in his eyes. For a moment Oliver is still paralyzed. He closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing for a moment. When he opens his eyes again, they’re still wet, but he can make out the ceiling fan lazily spinning above him. To his right, Felicity sleeps soundly, her head buried in her pillow. Oliver watches her sleep for a few minutes, letting her presence ground him. Watching her helps, but there’s no way he’s going back to sleep now. Slowly, Oliver eases out of bed, taking a moment to sit on the edge of the bed. His back aches and his wrists feels heavy, like they’re still chained. 

Oliver lumbers out of the bedroom, and down the hall, only one destination on his mind. Oliver’s prided himself on his way of silently entering an environment with no one the wiser, and that includes his newborn son. 

Tommy lays in his crib, four months old. Oliver slowly sits down in the nursery’s comfy, oversized chair, and as he did with Felicity, Oliver watches his son slowly breathe in and out, completely asleep, unaware of how unfriendly the outside world can be. 

It had been a big decision, to have Tommy. Oliver and Felicity didn’t have easy lives. What they’d gone through in their lives had given both Oliver and Felicity pause. How could they keep their kids safe? 

The answer, Felicity had decided, was they couldn’t. “They’re just as likely to get hit by a car as kidnapped or stranded on an island,” she had pointed out to Oliver one night.

Oliver had cocked his head at her, “That’s not exactly reassuring, hon.” He’d frowned, his thoughts going, where they always did, to William. Oliver had failed to keep him safe, and now they all paid for it. 

Felicity set her wine glass down and climbed into his lap. “Oliver, we can do it. I know we can. We’d be prepared...or as prepared as we could be.” 

Oliver whispered in her ear, “I’ve failed before.” 

Felicity had tightened her arms around him. “Because you were alone. You’re not alone. We can do this, together.”

Most of the time, Oliver can push the worry away, when Tommy wraps his hand around one of Oliver’s fingers, or falls asleep on his chest. Most of the time, Oliver can enjoy his life, his son, and not feel the burden of what ifs and maybes. 

But last week was William’s birthday. He’s fifteen. In high school now. Oliver wonders how tall William is. Is he getting ready to start driving? How are his grades? Does he have a girlfriend? Boyfriend? 

Needless to say, Oliver hasn’t been sleeping much. And the little sleep he has been getting has been besieged by nightmares. Prometheus, Slade, Damian Dark, even Malcolm sometimes, threaten William every night.

Tommy stirs a moment, making some huffing noises. Oliver stills, listening, and gets up as soon as the huffing turns to whimpering. 

“C’mere, buddy,” he whispers, taking Tommy into his arms. Oliver grabs a pacifier and Tommy eagerly latches onto it, blinking owlishly. Oliver eases back into the chair and after a few long minutes, Tommy is back to sleep.

Oliver is quite sure the only thing better than Tommy in his arms is seeing Tommy in Felicity’s arms. It kills Oliver he never got to hold William like this. It’s hard not to feel maudlin at times when there’s so much regret Oliver feels about William. 

Oliver remembers the anger he felt towards his father years ago. There had been moment when Oliver had resented Robert’s plea to help right his wrongs. It had taken a lot of time before Oliver had finally let go of his anger, his disappointment in his father and moved on. 

He wonders if William will ever be able to do the same. 

There’s a creak in a floorboard in the hallway that makes Oliver instinctively tense, but a second later, Felicity stands in the doorway of the nursery, yawning. “Hey,” she whispers.

“Hey,” Oliver whispers back. 

Felicity pads over to the chair, and squishes in besides Oliver, her head falling on his shoulder. “Was he fussing?” she whispers. 

“A little. He’s good now,” Oliver replies. 

Felicity frowns. “Couldn’t sleep again?” Oliver nods. “Who was it this time?” Felicity asks.

“Prometheus,” Oliver says.

Felicity wraps her arms around Oliver. “William is safe. He’s okay. So’s Tommy. Here he is, in your arms. We’re all safe.” 

Oliver looks down at Tommy. “I don’t want to miss anything with him. His first word, his first steps. I want to be the father to him that I wasn’t to William.” 

“You’re a wonderful father, Oliver,” Felicity says. “And there will come a time when you’ll be able to be a wonderful father to William. You and William will find a way back to each other.” 

Oliver has to take a deep breath for a moment. “How do you know?”

“We found our way back to each other, didn’t we?” Felicity kisses Oliver’s cheek. “There will be a day when you will meet him again. It won’t be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is, right?” 

Oliver can only nod. A few moments later he whispers, “I love you.” Felicity snuggles closer to him, and puts a hand on Tommy’s belly. 

Oliver’s heart swells with love for his son and wife. Oliver has to trust Felicity. He and William will find their way back to one another, one day.

Oliver watches the sun rise on a new day with his sleeping son and nearly asleep wife close to him. 

For now, this is all he needs.

**Author's Note:**

> On Tumblr at: @kayleegee-writes


End file.
